Note: This article is a rebuttal to OURsceneTV.com’s Op/Ed piece entitled “WTF is with all these straight people?”
Let’s start with one thing: I think we can all agree that we’ve made an amazing leap forward out of the closets and into the streets over the years, and we can all pat each other on the backs for that one. But somewhere along the way, in between the shift from a cohesive gay community, we’ve become segregated.
Weren’t gay establishments created for us to have a comfort zone - to go somewhere and feel right at home, whether playing tonsil tag or two-stepping’ without the fear of a bible being pegged at our heads or a drink thrown in our faces? They were meant for us to meet and greet each other, to serve as a rally point, to give us a kick-start in a new city, to join a community we can identify with, etc. But I’m pretty sure they weren’t created for us to breed smugness and hide from the reality outside: a lot of heterosexuals.
Isn’t getting pissed off at the “breeders” mingling in our labeled gay locations a little reminiscent of a Rosa Parks era? If we want to move forward in the race for gay equality, we can’t hold ourselves to a different standard by the way we treat those who are different from us.
I’m not sure about you, but I want to move forward in this world together, not in a segregated clan. I don’t want to live my life hiding in a gay safe and only meet women who share the same preference. I want my father and stepmother to love me NOT because I’m a child of God and my “sin” will be tolerated, but for them to love me all the more for it. I think the only way forward is by understanding each other, and how can there be an understanding if we’re so high on our horses that the rest of the world can’t see us?
We can’t make it too much further in our endeavors of not being judged if we let our asses get chapped because the “breeders” are tromping through our spring break city carting their babies along. Come on ya’ll, we should be happy about it, and they are the ones who are putting themselves out there by their own choice. Many who judge us only do so because they just don’t KNOW any better. They haven’t seen our lifestyle functioning in a healthy (or non healthy) environment. They don’t understand it’s a real way of living, and not a sex crazy phase or a girl-on-girl porn flick. So if they want to poke around in the gay scene, see it up close, mingle, get off on it, accidentally stumble into it, whatever, let’s let them.
No matter where we go in life, we’re bound to run into judgment or feel disrespected, and this applies to everyone, not just the homos. And even for one lesbian, it may just so happen to be by another lesbian in the gay bar, and not by the straight man. So let’s just be chill – sharin’ is carin’, right? Be flattered by their curiosity to see where you flock, it’s far better than them hating from a distance. If you don’t like it, just walk to the other side of the bar. If it’s really gone too far, guess what, the manager will more likely be on your side than theirs. In the end, it’s all good.
